A legal transcriptionist is a great career choice for a person who knows how to transcribe audio and has experience working in the legal field. Many legal transcriptionists are former legal assistants and/or paralegals who have made the leap to transcription. This is also a popular work at home job and many companies employ legal transcriptionists as independent contractors to transcribe various documents. Some of these documents may include hearings, depositions, and attorney correspondence. Often, transcriptionists branch out and do law enforcement transcription as well as criminal justice transcription.
Legal Transcription Training and Certification
While most medical transcription companies require transcriptionists to have completed a medical transcription course, many legal transcriptions companies do not mandate that candidates have completed a legal transcription course. An ideal legal transcriptionist will have worked in the legal field for at least one-year performing transcription. Most transcription companies like hands on experience preferably at a law office, in the court system or for a law enforcement agency. For individuals wanting to do legal transcription without prior legal experience, they may want to look into legal transcription training. These courses are usually offered at community colleges, technical schools and online. Legal transcriptionists who want to further their career by getting a national certification may want to look into an organization such as AAERT also known as the American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers. For AAERT certification, the transcriber must meet certain requirements and pass a national certification exam.
Legal Transcription Equipment for a Home Office
In order to have a home office suitable for transcription, a person will need several things. In the past, transcriptionists would transcribe from cassette tapes. Now most companies prefer to get transcription loaded up digitally and transcriptionists have to be able to download the audio from their home computers. Once the audio is downloaded, it is necessary to have a good transcription software program. There are many transcription software programs, some of which can be downloaded free online. Another important piece of transcription equipment is a USB foot pedal. The USB foot pedal allows the transcriber to not only play the audio after downloading it from the company's web site, but also to fast forward, rewind and pause. Some transcribers will just use their computer speakers to listen to the audio but most prefer to use a set of good noise cancellation headphones.
Individuals who are interested in working from home as legal transcriptionists should have a noise free area to work. Transcriptionists should also have excellent grammar and proofing skills and be able to meet project deadlines. For more information on other transcription careers, see entertainment transcription and law enforcement transcription.
Erin Oxendine - Erin Oxendine has numerous years of experience as a writer and editor with an emphasis on legal matters, travel and health issues. Erin ...
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